Blackstone Group has hired long-time Goldman Sachs banker Marc Pillemer to help the firm in its effort to buy stakes in hedge fund firms, according to people familiar with the matter.

Blackstone's New York office

Pillemer has not yet started at Blackstone, where he will be working closely with Greg Hall, a senior managing director at Blackstone, one of the people said.

Pillemer started at Goldman in 2000 after graduating from college, beginning his career in Hong Kong before moving to New York, according to a biography of him published by his alma mater. He eventually rose to become managing director in Goldman’s financial institutions group.

Investment firms have raised recently billions of dollars to buy stakes in hedge fund firms as big banks, major buyers in the past, have stepped away from such investments due to regulatory pressures. Blackstone closed its first deal earlier this year, buying a minority stake in Senator Investment Group. Blackstone had invested in Senator in a seed deal in exchange for a share of its profits.

Blackstone executives have told clients that taking stakes in hedge fund firms is a good opportunity for yield and raised the possibility of an IPO of a diversified portfolio of stakes, according to people familiar with the conversations.

This article was first published by The Wall Street Journal's MoneyBeat blog